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Wednesday, 6 August 2014

#CountryKids A stroll along the Leeds-Liverpool canal by Botany Bay

We had to make a trip to Manchester today (second one in a week!) and on the way back decided to break the journey at Botany Bay off the M61 as its somewhere we have never been:

Not much of a country kids type place you would say... but when we drove into the car park we discovered that this old mill is (and its quite logical really) alongside the Leeds and Liverpool canal:

So we took a little stroll passed the competing anglers to have an investigation of what was along the canal bank. The first thing we saw was this beautiful narrow boat which came with a rather gorgeous red setter on board:

The extended family were enjoying a cruise up the canal although apparently their boat was officially 1 foot too long for the locks! Now that sounds like the kind of holiday I would love to go on - if I could face the thought of being in such a small space with my nearest and dearest for a week..

We carried on a little further down the canal passing lots of lovely wildflowers in the hedgerow. Our walk ended opposite a boat yard where they were mending narrow boats and we saw some lovely examples of them:

Then we meandered back up the tow path to sample the indoor delights of what was once the Canal Mill. The children got a real workout in the soft play centre whilst the adults had a hot drink in the cafe. Then it was ice creams and milk shakes at Tootsies before wandering around some of the retail floors spread over 5 floors!